72 360 first start question

OK on diet...LOL. Understood what you are saying now. And thank on the cam info again; thread is getting long for searching. Let me think about it, but I think the reluctor pulse phasing may still need to be looked at. If you have the 2 distributor wires reversed, then the actual firing point will be when the tooth is somewhere else than pointing directly at the reluctor gap. All this applies for the Mopar system....so....

Is this indeed a stock Mopar ignition system? Can you describe it all if something else?

And are you using a timing light to look at the timing?

And do you really mean that when you move the oil gear by one tooth CW, then the spark rotor points between #1 and #3? That does not make sense; #8 should be the next spark plug number CW from #1.

And another thing not making sense is that you say you turn the distributor CCW to retard timing.... that should advance it. We ARE talking about a small block Mopar, right?!?

BTW, never say "so I know that's not the problem" in a situation like this one LOL